Movie Review: Frozen

After finishing finals week, I figured it was time for a well-deserved break. So, me and a few friends went off to see this wonderfully made movie.

A sister who was separated from her other magical sister has to help end the sudden winter that takes place in the summer.

Now when I saw the teaser, I thought it was a cute short. It had the feeling of the first Ice Age where we first see Scrat on his never-ending quest to get the acorn. I walked away and didn’t take the bait. Another trailer, released almost a month or so before the film’s release, made it seem that Olaf would play a larger part as the annoying sidekick that never shuts up and the highlight was the technical parts like the snow. That, and I didn’t see a lot of TV spots until the week before and week of release. Red flag anyone? It wasn’t until after opening week that I started to hear positive word of mouth and I figured that I should give it a go.

It’s BEAUTIFUL. I saw this in 2D, mostly because it was cheaper with student ID ($9). The amount of animated detail in terms of texture and snow simulation is astounding. The color palette is so cool in temperature. Look for the purple early on in the film; you’ll know where. The songs are done rather well and I did not mind them one bit. The character development was strong, though the villain reveal is eerily similar in more ways than one but more soul-crushing than Wreck-it Ralph. It will hurt, trust me.

Another reason why me and my friends enjoyed this was that we had an alumni credited as an animator for the film and the head of animation for the short that preceded it. Just so cool.

As to the short itself, I have heard it’s better in 3D and I might go back just to see it in 3D. The first touch of the fourth wall tells us that this isn’t the usual 1930’s Mickey Mouse. The comedic timing is well done but then some of the jokes come off as a reminder of the real world. Case in point: the Captain America shirt worn by Horace Horsecollar after the fourth wall is broken. I don’t mind it that much but was there another shirt pattern that could be used? Classic Disney history buffs will be surprised with the guest appearance of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Look at the bottom right hand corner towards the end to spot him. For logo fans, like myself, the end logo is something akin to the Paperman short before Wreck-it Ralph.

This is a fun film that, even only a few weeks old at the time of this post, has already earned a high place in the Disney animated canon. When this comes out on DVD, this is going on my shelf.

Good review Thomas. I had a great time with this movie for many reasons, but the main one always seems to stem from the fact that the message isn’t necessarily saying that all women need a man in their life to live or get things done, they just need faith and assurance in themselves.

Thanks. I didn’t have a problem with the message itself or how the message was delivered. It wasn’t drilled into your skull but it wasn’t shoehorned in either. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised at how it was handled.